By: Faith Jeannette
Buddy Holly was a star of the 50’s rockabilly era of music. He performed in a band “the Crickets” consisting of Buddy Holly on lead vocals and guitar, Jerry Allison on drums, and Joe B. Maudlin on upright bass.
Guitar driven and captivating vocals from Buddy Holly’s songs are unforgettable and innovative. Holly was an influential guitarist on many rock guitarists and bands from later generations including well-known band “The Beatles”. Holly inquired unique techniques and characteristics such as his quirky hiccup technique (also done by Elvis Presley) and sweet vibrato in his singing, as well as his complex harmonies and melodies. And let’s not forgot his prim and proper suits he always wore on stage along with his horn-rimmed spectacles. As stated in the article “Buddy Holly: the rocker next door – a classic profile by Mick Farren”, Holly had an “image of [a] shy, bespectacled grinning, clean-cut kid...” (theguardian.com)
Holly’s album “That’ll be the day” features an undeniable groove of blues, country, bluegrass, rockabilly and classic rock ‘n’ roll. This album centers around a young man hopelessly running after a girl(s) as depicted in “You are my one Desire” and “Love Me”. The relentless twang and crooning in Holly’s vocals and 12 bar blues illustrate the influence of country and blues in his music.
Holly’s biggest hit song “That’ll be the day” is an upbeat, danceable, and memorable song of heartbreak. Though the words express a sad subject (“that'll be the day, when you make me cry You say you're gonna leave, you know it's a lie 'Cause that'll be the day when I die”), the music is quite happy sounding, indeed, accompanied with an upbeat feel. The only part which goes along with the lyrics is the background “ooohs” in a minor progression giving a moaning/groaning effect. Lyrics from this song were inspired from the movie The Searchers, a western movie starring John Wayne. In this film, Wayne would repeatedly say “that’ll be the day” whenever a character would predict something was going to happen that Wayne didn’t think would actually happen. “The phrase stuck in Jerry's mind… at Jerry's house one night, Buddy looked at Jerry and said that it sure would be nice if they could record a hit song. Jerry replied with, "That'll be the day," imitating John Wayne in the film.” (songfacts.com) From this moment, a hit song was born!
“Love Me”, also featured on Holly’s album “That’ll be the day”, is consistent in providing Holly’s unique vocals and melody range. Holly calls out to this girl to “love me” in a sweet and pleading voice. This song also depicts the “bluesy” feel that’s prominent in this album. The wide range of his vocals captivates the listener to want to hear more! Though this song wasn’t the most successful out of the album, it is nonetheless catchy and leaves an earworm to the listener.
Yet another romantic song from Buddy Holly, “You are my one Desire” expresses the love and attraction from Holly to a woman of unknown. A deeper range is heard in this song for vocals as well as long, expressive phrases. This song is a laid-back tune accompanied by a repetitious eight-note pattern on piano. The emotion and mood are well interpreted from Buddy Holly in relation to the minor musical accompaniment in the brass section, which is in contrast to the bright plucked sound of the high-pitched keys. As always, Holly’s signature hiccup can be heard in between the phrase “my one desire”.
The upbeat and rockin’ song (pun unintentional) “Rock Around with Ollie Vee” entails about a woman named Ollie Vee, whom is actually the neighbor of the songwriter of this song Sonny Curtis. It is unknown of why he used her name for this song, but perhaps it was because they were good friends (or he was fond of her). This song provides a repetition of lyrics and instrumental form. The composition is persistent and leads you to want to move and dance. The instrumentation, similar to the other songs from this album, indicates influence from blues, western, ballads, and strophic. This can be seen through the guitar leads, as well as the sax solo.
We’ve all heard them before. The songs that depict the infatuation of a girl over a boy, or vice versa, and the “She makes my heart crazy!” or “I can’t stop thinking about him”. In Holly’s song “Ting-A-Ling”, this concept is used early on preceding the hundreds of songs written later on in the same context. Holly sings “the way they laugh, the way they sing, makes my heart go ting-a-ling”. Influences from Elvis’ hit “Heartbreak Hotel” is prominent in this song where the band plays a short phrase, drops out, Holly sings, then repeats. Holly’s hiccup technique and unique vocals are very prominent and stand out in this arrangement.
Similar to “That’ll be the Day”, Holly’s song “Blue Days, Black Nights” carries an upbeat and happy-sounding tune, yet the lyrics have a sad meaning. Buddy Holly expresses his days as blue and nights as black because his beloved has left him, and he is left with but a memory of her. Throughout the song, there is a lot of call and response between the guitar and melody. Call and response are a characteristic often contributed from African music. This song is also similar to that of a ballad as it tells a story of how he lost someone he loved. The song ends with the lyric “But now you are gone, and I am left here all alone with the blue memories I think of you” leaving the listener to contemplate on what he is expressing.
At first listen, Holly appears to jump in the first verse quickly and almost unexpectedly in his tune “Midnight Shift”. Just after a short two bar intro Holly starts singing on a pickup note. The end of the chorus is actually introduced as the first line of the song then immediately goes to the first verse. It is not explicitly clear what this song is about, but it discusses a woman named “Annie” who has been workin’ on the midnight shift. This could elude to adultery as these lyrics seem to be saying “She starts slippin' round in the middle of the night”. It wouldn’t be much a surprise since songs about cheating or adultery have been written about forever such as the ballad from the late 1800’s “CooCoo” by Dink Roberts. But once again, is it not stated directly which causes the listener to have to use their imagination of what this song is about.
“Modern Don Juan” refers to a man who is simply in love and wants no one but the one girl he loves. The sliding notes in the trumpet act almost as a sigh of a boy thinking dreamily about a girl. Buddy Holly knew how to play the role of a sweet innocent guy. “I ain’t nothing but a man in love” he sings repeatedly throughout the song. Holly could steal any girl’s heart with his sweet grin and crooning voice.
At a young age, Buddy Holly was tragically killed in an airplane crash along with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. Buddy Holly left a legacy on this earth. He always recorded any and every idea for a song, rather it was complete or uncomplete to tape. This allowed his music to live on and still be used for other songs. There have been many tributes to Buddy Holly from other artists such as the Fireballs and John Lennon. His music is still an influence on rock artists today.
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